146
DIGGING UP NON-ENGLISH TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THEIR STUDENTS’ ESP NEEDS
Dewi Nur Widiyati1, Risa Arroyyani2
1,2 Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Kesehatan Surya Global Yogyakarta Institute of Health Science Surya Global, Yogyakarta
Jl. Ringroad Selatan, Blado, Balong Lor, Potorono, Banguntapan, Bantul DIY 55194 Indonesia
email: [email protected]
Abstract: This study aims to identify and explore non-English teachers' perceptions of their students' ESP needs. This study is a descriptive study with a qualitative approach. The participants in this study were 16 public health lecturers at STIKes Surya Global Yogyakarta. A semi-structured questionnaire was distributed to participants to gather information related to their needs. The study analyzes the data from closed questions using simple statistics and from open questions using interpretations. The results showed that the importance of learning English is to support students’ academic fields and communication skills. Reading is a basic skill that needs to master. The students found it difficult to write English journal abstracts, practice oral communication, and read, comprehend, and review academic sources in English. Teachers sometimes use English as learning resources including books written in English and international journals and websites. Students need to learn English during their study period and after graduation. The topics needed to learn to support students’ backgrounds were health technology, health business service management, web causation of disease, health insurance, abstract, environmental health, health information system, safety, health promotion, epidemiology triangle, iceberg phenomenon of disease, research design epidemiology, epidemic, and infectious diseases, wastewater treatment, hygiene, and sanitation.
Keywords: Students’ needs, ESP, public health students
INTRODUCTION
The globalization era requires all individuals to be well-educated and skillful. One of the skills to master is communication skill since communication skill plays a key role (Akhter et al., 2020). English, as an international language, has recently played a vital role in communication,
especially at the international level.
Only those with good English skills can take the opportunity to expand their networks in other countries (Syifa’, 2020). Of the four language skills needed to be mastered by the students, reading skill is the most important skill as it can improve overall language proficiency. It is also impossible to get
147 successful in language learning without good reading skills (Qrqez and Ab Rashid, 2017; Thongwichit and Buripakdi, 2021). Thus, mastering English is somehow crucial to communicating effectively and successfully in both written and spoken communication that is needed in a career.
As a foreign language in Indonesia, English is taught at almost all education levels, from elementary to higher levels. However, it is still found that English materials learned in higher education are general English (Septiana, 2018).
With the large demands of English mastery for college graduates to be used in their field of work, teaching English in higher education has not been established in General English, but is currently given based on the learners’
academic background. This kind of English teaching is also known as ESP (English for Specific Purposes).
To achieve the learning target in ESP, a needs analysis must be conducted. This process involves gathering information that serves as the basis for developing a curriculum or materials that will meet the learning needs of particular groups of students
(Haryadi and Yanti, 2019). The results of the needs analysis can be used for developing appropriate materials for students. Appropriate English materials are important for learners to prepare them for their work fields (Yunita, Emzir and Mayuni, 2018; Wulandari, Muchsin and Tambunan, 2019; Lestari, 2020).
Needs analysis can be obtained by gathering information from the students and the teachers. Due to the need for appropriate materials in ESP class for the students, teachers' perceptions, as well as students’
perceptions, are beneficial to provide a whole description of students' needs as the part of needs analysis. Teachers have their perceptions. As a result, they have their perceptions of what students needs and lack the ESP materials. Some non-English teachers are involved directly in meeting students’ needs.
Therefore they can provide suggestions on what needs to be updated related to the materials, and the teaching and learning practices in the classroom (Asri, Ulfa and Suryadi, 2019).
However, there is a lack of detailed investigation of how teachers or lecturers perceive the development of ESP teaching materials in Indonesia.
148 This is the main reason for the importance of the research to be conducted. Thus, this study is purposed to identify and explore non-English teachers’ perceptions of their students' ESP needs. The problem of the study can be formulated as follows: “What are public health students’ needs for ESP based on the teachers’ perceptions?”
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Perceptions
Perception includes how people respond to the information which allows them to take the sensory information in and make it into something meaningful.
In another word, perception is how people give an interpretation of something based on their experience as the result of stimuli in producing information (Dwinata, 2017; Safitri and Khoiriyah, 2017).
There are two factors affecting an individual's perception in expressing thoughts namely internal and external factors. According to Sobur, the former is in the form of an individual's belief, experience, self-acceptance, background, personality, and attitudes and the latter involves repetition,
familiarity, movement, measurement, and something new.
ESP
English for Specific Purposes, also known as ESP, has been growing as a distinct discipline since the 1960s.
Different from General English which focuses more on teaching grammar and language structures, ESP emphasizes learning on the adult learners’ purposes and needs. ESP focuses on teaching the skills based on the needs analysis, what learners need the most, suitable to the learners' academicals background.
(Rahman, 2015).
ESP is one of the approaches for teaching English to non-native speakers and non-English departments at a higher education level because it is considered to tailor students’ needs and real-world careers.
ESP is appropriate for adult learners in learner-centered learning which integrates the subject matter related to the learners’ present and future situations (Ma’mura et al., 2020;
Udu, Tafida and Udu, 2022).
Teachers’ Perceptions of ESP
Some researchers conducted a needs analysis for ESP students based on students’ perceptions (Yunita, Emzir and Mayuni, 2018; Wulandari, Muchsin
149 and Tambunan, 2019; Solihati and Rahayu, 2020). Besides students’
perception of their learning English needs, it also requires teachers’ of the student’s needs for the ESP material.
The teachers’ perceptions enrich the description to develop appropriate topics related to the academic fields in terms of ESP teaching context. Meeting the students' needs in learning as conducted in needs analysis is not only finding out the skills needed to learn but also the suitable topics needed to learn.
Since the students sometimes find it difficult to determine what appropriate topics to learn related to their fields, teachers' perceptions are helpful. For non-English teachers, their information about the topics learned by the students will complete the whole description of the ESP course plan related to students’ needs and lack of ESP materials.
They can give consideration and provide suggestions on ESP materials development since they are involved directly in the teaching and learning process (Asri, Ulfa and Suryadi, 2019).
Materials Development
Because an ESP course is given based on the needs of the learners, it is important to design and develop a good
syllabus and materials which are appropriate to the learners' needs. It leads to fulfilling the learners’ needs and expectations through a comprehensive needs analysis and syllabus design (Lestari, 2020).
ESP teaching materials must be suitable with the characteristics and objectives to integrate current and future learning needs. Different types of students have different language needs and what they are taught should be restricted to what they need (Richards, 2001).
Therefore, the use of ESP textbooks has to adapt the practical workplace needs-related materials as well as supplement extra materials through teachers’ constant ‘needs analysis’ (Liton, 2015).
Students Needs
Analyzing students’ needs is in line with the first step of developing learning materials both for general purposes and for ESP. The learners’
needs are including target needs (what the learner needs to do in the target situation) and learning needs (what the learner needs to do to learn) (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987).
Needs analysis as the key stage in ESP which leads to a focused course
150 (Rahman, 2015), is not only useful for the teachers but also useful for the students.
The students feel aware of their language proficiency or lack; they can get information about their necessities and wants, and they can choose their preferred learning strategies. It can be said that learning is meaningful if it is appropriate to students' needs and interests (Haryono, 2020).
METHODOLOGY OF STUDY The type of research is a descriptive study using a qualitative approach. Participants in this study are 16 public health lecturers at STIKes Surya Global Yogyakarta. They are from four concentrations namely Hospital Management, Health Information Systems, Health Promotion, and Reproductive Health.
The instrument in this study was a questionnaire consisting of closed- ended and open-ended questions.
Closed-ended questions were conducted to find out the student’s needs through questions in the Google form. Open-ended questions were conducted through semi structured- interviews as triangulation data to confirm the data from open-ended questions. Semi- structured
questionnaires include the union of open and closed questions (Asrifan et al., 2020). The data collection technique used is a survey by distributing questionnaires and conducting interviews. To make the quantitative data easier to read, these data were converted into the interval of mean value on a scale of 1 to 5 using a range of the factual score as:
Based on the calculation, the class interval is presented as follows:
Table 1. Quantitative data conversion for question number 4 and 5
Sca le
Interval of the mean values
Category for number 4
Category for number 5 1 ≥ 4.8 Very
important
Strongly agree 2 4.1 – 4.7 Important Agree 3 3.4 – 4.0 Quite
important
Neutral 4 2.7 – 3.3 Not
important
Disagree 5 2 – 2.6 Very
unimporta nt
Strongly disagree
Table 2. Quantitative data conversion for question number 7
Scale Interval of the mean values
Category
1 ≥ 4.6 Very Often
2 3.7 – 4.5 Often
3 2.8 – 3.6 Sometimes
4 1.9 – 2.7 Rarely
5 1 – 1.8 Never
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Results
The results of the data can be seen in the following table.
151 Table 3. Respondents Profile
Aspect Description % N
Age range 31 - 34 35 - 38 39 - 42 43 - 46 47 - 50
14%
58%
7%
7%
14%
2 8 1 1 2
Sex Female
Male
86%
14%
12 2 Concentra
tion
Hospital Management (MRS) Reproductive Health (Kespro) Health Information System (SIK) Health Promotion (Promkes)
43%
29%
7%
21%
6 4
1 3
Most of the respondents are in the age range of 35-38 years (8 from 14 respondents) with mostly females (12 respondents).
The concentration of respondents' majors is dominated by Hospital Management (43% or 6 respondents) followed by Reproductive Health (29% or 4 respondents), Health Promotion (21% or 3 respondents), and Health Information Systems (7% or 1 respondent).
Table 4. How teachers perceive the importance of English to support the
students’ background
Aspects Description % N Academi
c reasons
Learning references/sourc es
International Journals Research project
56.25
%
37.5%
12.5%
9
6 2 Commun
ication reasons
Communication in service to foreign people Communication in the work field
6.25%
18.75
%
1
3
International language Globalization and
modernization demands
6.25%
6.25%
1
1
Table. 4 shows two reasons for the importance of learning English perceived by the respondents including supporting the students’ academic fields and improving their communication skills. The teachers agree that English is important for the students especially related to their academic knowledge.
As many as 9 respondents (56.25%) said that English helped understand the references or literature for their study, and 6 respondents (37.5%) agreed that English was useful in terms of learning or writing international journals and some research about public health. For communication reasons, there were three respondents stated that English was beneficial to use in the work field (18.75%).
In addition, there was only 1 respondent answered (6.25%) that English was important to communicate with foreigners since it is an international language.
Table 5. How teachers perceive English skills to be mastered by the public health
students
Skill to master % N
Ability to read English-language academic sources of public health lectures/articles
21% 13
152 Ability to write written
reports/articles/academic essays related to public health in English
17% 10
Ability to comprehend/ listen to lecture materials, seminars, and materials related to public health in English
17% 10
Ability to speak English to communicate
13% 8
Ability of English vocabulary mastery related to public health/lecture resources
17% 10
Ability to use English learning resources, both professional and online-based tools
15% 9
Table. 5 shows that the teachers perceived reading, the ability to read English-language academic sources, as the most needed skill (21%), followed by writing, listening, and vocabulary mastery (17%). Meanwhile, information literacy and speaking got almost similar percentages of (15%) and (13%).
The respondents’ statements in open question support that reading is an important skill to master.
(Reading) is important for understanding journal literature and technological developments that are often written in English. (R1.4)
Yes, it is very important, especially reading skills. (R2.4)
Table 6. How important English sub-skills are to be mastered perceived by the
teachers.
Sub Skills
score Mean value
Catego 5 4 3 2 1 ry
Ability to read English academic sources of public
9 4 1 0 0 4.57 Importa nt
health articles Ability to write written reports/arti cles/acade mic essays related to public health in English
9 5 0 0 0 4.64 Importa nt
Ability to comprehe nd/ listen to learning materials, seminars, and materials related to public health in English
5 8 1 0 0 4.28 Importa nt
Ability to communic ate in English
6 7 0 1 0 4.28 Importa nt
Ability to master English vocabulary related to public health/lear ning resources.
9 4 1 0 0 4.57 Importa nt
Ability to master English grammar
8 4 2 0 0 4.42 Importa nt
From table 6, it can be seen that there are some English sub-skills to be mastered by the students. They are reading, writing, listening, and speaking, vocabulary, and grammar mastery sub-skills. They are in the range of 4.1 – 4.7 (important). Both open and closed questionnaires show that the teachers agree that those sub-skills are
153 principal to be mastered by the students.
The following are the results from the open questionnaire.
Yes, they have difficulties. They do not know the meaning of several terms related to the materials so they cannot explain the materials. (R6.3)
Yes, especially English vocabulary.
(R4.3)
Table 7. How teachers perceive the students’
difficulties in understanding materials written in English.
Compon ent
score Mean value
Categor 5 4 3 2 1 y
Whether the students find any difficulti es in understa nding materials written in English.
3 7 2 2 0 3.79 Neutral
The mean value for the students’
difficulties in understanding materials written in English is 3.79. It is in the range of 3.4 – 4.0 and categorized as neutral.The teachers are asked “Do you think the students find any difficulties in understanding materials written in English? Explain them.” Of 16 respondents, 7 respondents (43.75%) stated that public health students found it difficult to master English, especially in reading and writing related to international journals. It led the students to use Indonesian national journals
rather than international journal articles as learning references.
Because English is difficult (for them), the students only use national journals in Indonesian (as references) (R6.6).
Considering the students’
difficulties in other skills, two respondents stated that the students were difficulty mastering English related to public health terms. Besides, one lecturer perceived that the students always used Google Translate.
(They are not) familiar with health terminology (in English) (R5.6).
When we asked them to review some international journals, they seemed to always use Google Translate (R11.6).
Table 8. How teachers perceive the use of English in their teaching
Component score Mean
value Cate gory 5 4 3 2 1
The use of English in their
teaching
1 2 5 5 1 2.8 Som etim es
The teachers are asked, “Is English often used in the teaching and learning process?” The answer choices provided are never, rarely, sometimes, often, and very often. Based on the closed and open questionnaires, it concludes that all teachers perceive that they sometimes use English in their teaching. They mostly use English in
154 terms of English references for example international journals, books, and websites.
We use English when we read some sources of health journals, international websites (WHO, CDC), etc. (R2.5)
Table 9. The use of English by the teachers in the class
Resources Description
References International journals Book references written in English
International websites Abstract
Journals
Translation of Indonesian – English abstract
Table 9 shows that the teachers use English in teaching two resources;
references and abstracts. International journals and book references written in English are sometimes used by the teachers in the class.
Table 10. How teachers perceive the preference of using English for public health
students Time to
learn English
% Reasons
English during the study period
71% Understanding materials and references in English easier
Mastering skills and knowledge
Understanding international Journals easier
English after graduation
29% The wider use of English Preparing work field Preparing study
The teachers were asked,
“When is English important to be given to public health students, and why?”
71% of teachers agreed that English is important to learn during the study period, and 29% of others agree that
English is important to learn after graduation.
Meanwhile, from the open- ended question, “why?” five respondents (31.25%) perceived English to be used both during their study period and after graduation.
During the study period, 6 respondents (37.5%) agreed that English facilitated public health students to understand the materials easily. After graduation, English is important to master since the students need English to prepare for their work field or to continue studying.
To make it easy to understand the materials thus (the students) will be able to use them after graduation (R8.10).
Because (they must understand) some learning resources in English (R13.10)
Table 11. English topics needed to learn in supporting students’ background
Topics Skills
health technology Reading Vocabulary Grammar Writing health business service
management abstract safety
health promotion environmental Health health information system web causation of disease epidemiology triangle iceberg phenomenon of disease
research design epidemiology
epidemic and infectious diseases
health insurance wastewater treatment hygiene
155 sanitation
The teachers are asked, “What English materials/topics should be given to students related to the subject in supporting students' background?”
They then suggested some topics that needed to learn to support students’ backgrounds. They are from four concentrations (hospital management, reproductive health, health information system, and health promotion) and include reading and writing skills, vocabulary, and grammar mastery. The answers in the open questions support the answers in closed questions.
Health insurance, nutrition, health financing (R4.6)
Wastewater treatment, hygiene, and sanitation (R5.6)
Discussion
From the findings on how teachers perceive the importance of English to support the student’s background, academic and communication reasons play an important role. The teachers perceived that mastering English for the academic field helps students to understand the broader scope of the materials. While the importance of English for communication reasons is in line with Akhter et al. (2020) who stated that
communication skill plays a key role.
As an international language, English has recently played a vital role in terms of communication, especially at the international level.
In addition, the teachers perceived that ability to read English- language academic sources of public health lectures/articles is the most important skill to master. Specifically, reading is the most basic skill needed by students to support the success of mastering a language which is in line with Qrqez and Ab Rashid (2017) and Thongwichit and Buripakdi (2021).
Regarding the importance of English sub-skills, the teachers perceived that all English sub-skills are important to be mastered by the students. Those are reading, writing, listening, speaking, and vocabulary and grammar mastery sub-skills.
Related to the student’s difficulties in understanding materials written in English, the students find it difficult to read, comprehend, and review academic sources in English, write an abstract in English, and use English in oral communication.
The teachers sometimes use English as references in their class such
156 as books written in English, and international journals and websites.
The findings of the times for the students learning English are in line with the theory that it is appropriate for adult learners in learner-centered learning that integrate the subject matter related to the learners’ present and future situations (Ma’mura et al., 2020;
Udu, Tafida and Udu, 2022).
The teachers perceived English to be used during their study period and after graduation. During the study period, English facilitates public health students to understand the materials easily. After graduation, English is perceived as important to master since the students need English to prepare for their work field or to continue studying.
Regarding the topics needed to learn in supporting students’
background, they are health technology, health business service management, web causation of disease, health insurance (hospital management);
abstract, environmental health (reproductive health); health information system (health information system); safety, health promotion, epidemiology triangle, iceberg phenomenon of disease, research design epidemiology, epidemic, and infectious
diseases, wastewater treatment, Hygiene, Sanitation (health promotion).
These topics can enrich the students’
knowledge.
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
Teachers' perceptions are beneficial to provide a whole description of students' needs as part of needs analysis. The information from the teachers about the students' needs creates several benefits for the researchers.
First, this study has obtained the students' descriptions of all language skills. It proves that reading needs more concern because of the students' lack of mastery. Since the use of English by non-English teachers in the classroom is inadequate, the students' sub-skills of oral communication, translation, comprehension, and review of academic sources in English need to be improved.
Second, related to the teachers' perceptions, English is important to learn by students both during the study period and after graduation.
The English and academic- related topics suggested by the teachers are functional for material designers in designing the course grid and the learning materials. It needs further
157 research concerning developing appropriate ESP materials for public health students.
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